Does online advertising have effects on consumer buying behavior?

Due to technological advancement, many people across the world are able to access the internet. Many technological devices have been developed to enhance internet connection. In addition, internet speed has been improved, which has increased the number of users. Recent research has shown that many individuals, especially the youth, use the internet to get information about a product (Janoschka, 2004). They can search for the product features and compare it to other similar product. Consumers are aware of the product prices and quality before they even purchase the product, which has increased the level of competition (Tuten, 2008).

Online advertising can be carried out through the company website or other sponsored channels such as the social media (Ryan, & Jones, 2012). Due to the high number of individuals using social media, most companies have invested in the field to try to inform the consumers about their products. Online advertising has a wide coverage compared to other methods of advertising; in addition, it is also less costly compared to television advertising (Gao, 2005). Many companies have invested in the field to reduce the cost of advertising hence reducing the product prices. Internet advertising increased due to the development of e-commerce. This is an online business transaction without physical meeting of the buyers and sellers (Jones & Silverstein, 2009). Companies have invested in this strategy to increase their product sale via the internet. Before a company uses this strategy, it must analyze if its products can be advertised through this channel. Some products are restricted by law to be advertised and purchased online due to their nature (Allen Kania, Yaeckel & Allen, 2001). The development of online advertising has increased the level of competition in business since consumers are aware of the companies that produce the product and at what cost. Before investing in this strategy, a company must analyze several things, which include: first, are the cost of paid advertising and the market cover of the advert. The business must ensure that the reaches the target market (Hanafizadeh & Behboudi, 2012). If the market intended does not use the internet then, the company will be wasting its resources to invest in the plan. The second factor to consider is the agency to use. Several companies offer internet advertising services, where a company that intends to advertise its goods and services hires them to do it (Allen Kania, Yaeckel & Allen, 2001). When selecting the agency, the business must ensure they have the skills and expertise in the field. These skills include the use of keywords to enable easy access to information (Parkin, 2009).

In caring out the research, I intend to use the following methods;
Questionnaires, I will provide online questionnaires for consumers and business to examine their experience in online advertisement. The questionnaires will be structured in a way that it improves the consumers and businesses feedback. The aim of this method is to get data on whether consumers use the internet as a source of information and if they use online advertisement information as a basis purchasing (Kothari, 2005). On the business side, the paper will seek to understand if online a game changer for business is. In addition, I will seek to understand how they use online advertising to influence consumer behaviour.

Interview, I will interview 300 consumers randomly to understand their experience in online advertising and ways it has affected them. I will also seek to know how often they access the internet and social media. I will also interview 100 business managers to understand the various challenges and advantages of using online advertisement (Ketchen & Bergh, 2004). The data collected will be qualitatively analyzed to draw a conclusion.

References
Allen, C. Kania, D.Yaeckel, B. & Allen, C. (2001). One-to-one web marketing: Build a relationship marketing strategy one customer at a time. New York: John Wiley.
Gao, Y. (2005). Web systems design and online consumer behavior. Hershey PA: Idea Group Pub.
Hanafizadeh, P., & Behboudi, M. (2012). Online advertising and promotion: Modern technologies for marketing. Hershey, PA: Business Science Reference.
Janoschka, A. (2004). Web advertising: New forms of communication on the Internet. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Jones, S. K., & Silverstein, B. (2009). Business-to-business Internet marketing: Seven proven strategies for increasing profits through Internet direct marketing. Gulf Breeze, FL: Maximum Press.
Ketchen, D. J. & Bergh, D. D. (2004). Research methodology in strategy and management. Amsterdam: Elsevier JAI.
Kothari, C. R. (2005). Research methodology: Methods & techniques. New Delhi: New Age International (P) Ltd.
Parkin, G. (2009). Digital marketing: Strategies for online success. London: New Holland Publishers.
Ryan, D., & Jones, C. (2012). Understanding digital marketing: Marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation. Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page.
Tuten, T. L. (2008). Advertising 2.0: Social media marketing in a Web 2.0 world. Westport, Conn: Praeger.